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Welcome to Sacramento and the Gold Country

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Top Reasons to Go | Getting Oriented | What’s Where | Planning

Updated by Steve Pastorino

The Gold Country is one of California’s less expensive destinations, a region of the Sierra Nevada foothills that’s filled with natural and cultural pleasures. Visitors come to Nevada City, Auburn, Coloma, Sutter Creek, and Columbia not only to relive the past but also to explore art galleries, shop for antiques, and stay at friendly, atmospheric inns. Spring brings wildflowers, and in fall the hills are colored by bright red berries and changing leaves. Because it offers plenty of outdoor diversions, the Gold Country is a great place to take kids.

Old Sacramento’s museums provide a good introduction to the region’s considerable history, but the Gold Country’s heart lies along Highway 49, which winds the approximately 300-mile north–south length of the historic mining area. The highway—often a twisting, hilly two-lane road—begs for a convertible with the top down.

A new era dawned for California when James Marshall turned up a gold nugget in the tailrace of a sawmill he was constructing along the American River. On January 24, 1848, Mexico and the United States were still wrestling for ownership of what would become the Golden State. Marshall’s discovery helped compel the United States to tighten its grip on the region, and prospectors from all over the world soon came to seek their fortunes in the Mother Lode.

As gold fever seized the nation, California’s population of 15,000 swelled to 265,000 within three years. The mostly young, male adventurers who arrived in search of gold—the forty-niners—became part of a culture that discarded many of the button-down conventions of the eastern states. It was also a violent time. Yankee prospectors chased Mexican miners off their claims, and California’s leaders initiated a plan to exterminate the local Native American population. Bounties were paid and private militias were hired to wipe out the Native Americans or sell them into slavery. California was to be dominated by the Anglo.

The gold-rush boom lasted scarcely 20 years, but it changed California forever, producing 546 mining towns, of which fewer than 250 remain. The hills of the Gold Country were alive, not only with prospecting and mining but also with business, the arts, gambling, and a fair share of crime. Opera houses went up alongside brothels, and the California State Capitol, in Sacramento, was built partly with the gold dug out of the hills.

The mild climate and rich soil in and around Sacramento Valley are responsible for the region’s current riches: fresh and bountiful food and high-quality wines. Gold Country restaurants and wineries continue to earn national acclaim, and they’re without the high prices of the Bay Area and Sonoma and Napa wine regions. There’s a growing local craft beer scene, too.

Top Reasons to Go

Gold Rush: Marshall Gold Discovery State Park and Hangtown’s Gold Bug & Mine conjure up California’s mid-19th-century boom.

State Capital: Easygoing Sacramento offers sights like the Capitol and historic Old Sacramento along with a sophisticated dining scene.

Bon appétit: Sacramento is home to the California state fair in July and several ethnic food festivals. Nevada City and environs are known for summer mountain-music festivals and Victorian and Cornish winter-holiday celebrations.

Wine Tasting: With bucolic scenery and friendly tasting rooms, the Gold Country’s Shenandoah Valley has become an acclaimed wine-making region, specializing in Zinfandel.

Sequoias and Caverns: Calaveras Big Trees State Park is filled with giant sequoias, and Moaning Cavern’s main chamber is big enough to hold the Statue of Liberty.

Getting Oriented

The Gold Country is a largely laid-back destination popular with those seeking a reasonably priced escape from Southern California and the Bay Area. Sacramento, Davis, and Woodland are in an enormous valley just west of the Sierra Nevada range. Foothill communities Nevada City, Placerville, and Sutter Creek were products of the gold rush, and remain popular stopovers with travelers en route to Lake Tahoe.

What’s Where

Sacramento and Nearby. The gateway to the Gold Country, the seat of state government, and an agricultural hub, Sacramento plays many important contemporary roles. About 2.5 million people live in the metropolitan area, which offers up more sunshine and lower prices than coastal California.

The Gold Country—South. South of its junction with U.S. 50, Highway 49 traces in asphalt the famed Mother Lode. The peppy former gold-rush towns strung along the road have for the most part been restored and made presentable to visitors with an interest in one of the most frenzied episodes of American history.

The Gold Country—North. Highway 49 north of Placerville links the towns of Coloma, Auburn, Grass Valley, and Nevada City. Most are gentrified versions of once-rowdy mining camps, vestiges of which remain in roadside museums, old mining structures, and restored homes now serving as inns.

Planning

When to Go

The Gold Country is most pleasant in spring, when the wildflowers are in bloom, and in fall. Summers can be hot: temperatures of 100ºF are fairly common. Sacramento winters tend to be cool, with occasionally foggy or rainy days; many Sacramentans drive to the foothills (or the coast) for a dose of winter sunshine. Throughout the year Gold Country towns stage community and ethnic celebrations. In December many towns are decked out for Christmas.

Getting Here and Around

Air Travel

Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is served by Aeromexico, Alaska/Horizon, American, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, United, and Volaris. A private taxi from the airport to Downtown Sacramento costs about $40; the Super Shuttle fare starts at $13. Public buses are also an option.

Bus and Light-Rail Travel

Greyhound serves Sacramento from San Francisco and Los Angeles. Sacramento Regional Transit serves the capital area with buses and light-rail vehicles. Yolobus public buses Nos. 42A and 42B connect SMF airport and Downtown Sacramento, West Sacramento, Davis, and Woodland.

Car Travel

Interstate 5 (north–south) and Interstate 80 (east–west) are the two main routes into and out of Sacramento. From Sacramento, three highways fan out toward the east, all intersecting with historic Highway 49: Interstate 80 heads northeast 34 miles to Auburn; U.S. 50 goes east 40 miles to Placerville; and Highway 16 angles southeast 45 miles to Plymouth. Highway 49 is an excellent two-lane road that winds and climbs through the foothills and valleys, linking the principal Gold Country towns. Traveling by car is the only practical way to explore the Gold Country.

Train Travel

One of the most authentic ways to relive the Old West is traveling via train. On the Amtrak California Zephyr, you can ride the same route traveled by prospectors in the late 1800s. Docents from the Sacramento Railroad Museum ride the route from Sacramento to Reno daily, and are available to answer questions. The route into the Sierra Nevadas is memorable, especially if you book a sleeper car. Amtrak trains serve Sacramento and Davis from San Jose, Oakland, and Emeryville (Amtrak buses transport passengers from San Francisco’s Ferry Building to Emeryville). Amtrak also runs trains and connecting motor coaches from the Central Valley.

Contacts
Amtrak. | 401 I St. | 800/872–7245 | www.amtrak.com.

Health and Safety

In an emergency, dial 911.

Restaurants

American, Italian, and Mexican are common Gold Country fare, but chefs also prepare ambitious European, French, and contemporary regional cuisine that mixes California ingredients with international preparations. Grass Valley’s meat- and vegetable-stuffed pasties, introduced by 19th-century gold miners from Cornwall, are one of the region’s more unusual treats.

Hotels

Sacramento has plenty of full-service hotels, budget motels, and small inns. Larger towns along Highway 49—among them Auburn, Grass Valley, and Jackson—have chain motels and inns. Many Gold Country bed-and-breakfasts occupy former mansions, miners’ cabins, and other historic buildings.

Visitor Information

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